The Final Song
by Riley Killer
Summary: She died violently by a monster in our world and woke up terrified under a monster in theirs. Maybe another shot at life won't be so bad... Or is this just a dream? Perhaps the start of a nightmare? When Lynn's left to trust and help a man with sharp teeth and red eyes find his partner, she may just find out why she had to die. (Post-Anime, T for language and content.)


**A/N:** Hullo hullo! And welcome to my humble fanfic. It is for your reading pleasure currently, and I do hope to hear what you think about it, or at least the feedback you have so I may improve as a writer. I will start off by saying I love Soul Eater, and Soul Eater NOT! If you do not know of Soul Eater NOT! Please look it up immediately as I may use references for this story. It will not be required to read it though. I will warn you ahead that my characters do cuss, and adult themes may appear later in the tale.

But for now, let's get this show on the road!

 **Disclaimer:** _I do not own Soul Eater as it is a written and illustrated creation by Atsushi Ōkubo. I do however own Lynn Crawford, her team "Flame 6," and the storyline I'm about to dish out. Please go read or watch Soul Eater for all its greatness if you have not._

* * *

 _ **Follow the Leader**_

* * *

The blaring of a cellphone alarm, accompanied by the sound of pounding on the door was enough to rouse the individual who's head laid in the pillow from their slumber.

"Lynn! Lynn! We have to go! It's time to go to work!" The younger voice of her assistant muffled from behind the closed door.

Groaning, she rolled onto her side, "We don't leave for an hour, Dasia."

The knob jiggled in protest, "That was 45 minutes ago!"

Lynn Crawford stilled for a moment, her sleepy mind behind and unsure on what she just heard. She lifted her head and looked towards the door. "…Wha?"

"You have 5 minutes until you said we're supposed to hit the road!"

The petite young woman with black hair and deep brown eyes on the other side of the door sighed as she heard the snarl of shock and rage from within. Satisfied, she turned and walked down the hotel hall back to her room.

There was no time for a shower, there was no time breakfast. Her panic conducive in only throwing her bag together; her journals and books into the bottom and the computer into the bag. Her federal identification around her neck.

Black combat boots laced to the last eyehole; black cargo pants pressed and ironed, white shirt yanked on over the nude bra and hair pulled up into a bobbing pony tail.

She opened the door with a piece of last night's pastry in her mouth, and paused at the group of young people that stood; waiting for her expectedly. Their uniforms identical with the exception of their shirts black.

Dasia cleared her throat lightly, and pointed to her face. Lynn paused, then palmed her uniform before she dug into her pants pocket. Whipping out her spectacles, she put them on with a sigh.

With a straight face, she shoved a baseball cap on her head, the black stitched with white that spelled out, J-E-R-C.

"Alright jerks." She stated lowly, the team of six around her paused at attention, "You ready to get to work?"

From her left, one of the younger members of the squad, Luna, sighed and flipped her black hair over her shoulder, "Well we're all just standing' here, waiting for you." She rolled her eyes, "Because we don't have anything better to do at 5:30 in the morning!"

Lynn felt a sardonic smirk cross her face, yanking her subordinates attention. A slight tension hovered in the group while Dasia rolled her eyes, a small smirk of amusement hidden as she kept her face buried into her shirt collar.

"I'm not hearin' a no." She shut the door behind her.

Luna's muttered response of, "You're not hearing a yes, either." Earned her a tired glare from the leader. Lynn waved her off with a grimace.

"Alright, let's go let's go!" The woman cheered with too much energy for anyone awake within the crack of dawn, the 24 year old snarled out after with determination, "We gotta go put some fires out!"

A younger man in the team sighed as the leader adjusted her cap with a self-confident smirk. He adjusted his glasses and groaned, "…Too much fucking energy, Lynn."

"Watch your mouth, Jason." Lynn growled lowly as she moved past him, but a humored glint in her eyes as she stared him down, "You're in uniform." He rolled his eyes and sighed.

They traveled together; often in droves. In this case though; they piled into what was just a dark green, 15-passenger van. The JERC team loaded in, the beginning of twilight just cresting the horizon as the behemoth vehicle pulled out of the service road that fed from the hotel parking lot and began down the rocky path of the forest surrounded that was the local state highway. Drowsy and eager to catch up on any sleep available for the journey, many of the team fell asleep, while the leader and her assistant stared vigilant ahead.

High up off the ground in the driver's seat, Lynn felt at home as she guided the wheel. Smoke laid thick in the air as she traveled below the speed limit; it acting as a fog that covered her vision. "Montana's really burning to the ground." She muttered after a few seconds of staring out into the haze, the sight of fires throughout the forests ahead just managing to glow in the distance.

Dasia nodded with a sigh, slightly hunched in her seat as she looked at the GPS. The ventilation system of the van on recycle. The assistant assumed the role of navigator and guide. "In five miles, we'll turn right on Shibusen rd." She then looked up and gazed out the window, with a sigh, she nodded, "Yeah.. but you got to think of the underbrush that's built up."

Lynn scowled, "If only vans had like, giant fans on them." She groaned, "Then we might not have to move at a snails pace cause of all this smoke."

"I don't think that's how it would work," Dasia chuckled.

"Well it should."

Daisa nodded, staring ahead with a lidded gaze before her eyes widened, "BRAKE!"

Lynn slammed the brakes to the vehicle before she even looked ahead at the command. Looking forward, she snarled as the fire had jumped forward rapidly their directions. The other passengers yelping and gasping as the van began to immediately decrease in speed. The belts pulled tight across their chests and Lynn gritted her teeth as the van began to curve, "AH- SHIT!" She dug her foot down harder onto the break and the van finally screeched to a stop; a flaming tree crashing to the ground just behind them and across the road.

Pants exited her as the heat turned up around them, she looked ahead to see the forest surrounding the road ablaze. Luna's awakened, hiccuping, tearful voice snarled from the back, "What the hell!?"

The flames blazed around them before the leader looked over her shoulder towards the fallen tree, and then back ahead. The road was clear, the trees around them were ablaze. Frantic talk of panic immediately hit the air in the five rows of seat behind them. The six remaining teammates awake to their predicament. The noise was distracting. She winced, "Dasia." It was an unasked question and command. Their minds ran the same course as they looked ahead, a bond formed within the year and a half they had been attached to the same team allowed the assistant to read her leader within seconds within seconds of seeing her hard expression. They made eye contact before Dasia gave a nod.

She twisted around in her seat, voice roared over the panic, "QUIET." Faces turned forward, "Nobody move from this van." She snarled, "And stay calm!"

Lynn found it easier to breath as the quiet became so thick it occupied the van as though it was it's own force. "How far is Shibusen?" Dasia twisted back ahead as the brunette murmured, "The road is clear, we could probably make it."

"With falling branches?"

"We can't move the tree behind us with the equipment at the office and we have no time, you got any other ideas?"

Dasia didn't. She looked down at the phone in her hand, the battery halfway to dead, "We're three miles out. It leads out to the federal highway."

Lynn's knuckles were white as she gripped the wheel, frantically looking towards the flames that brightened the sky along side the sun as it began to raise, the sky grey with smoke and ash. She gritted her teeth as she hit the gas pedal and they began to jerk forward, "How did it jump so quickly?"

"It must have hit a kindling patch, the controlled burns must have missed something." Dasia whispered; wide eyed and hands gripping the armrests of her seats. Lynn's voice grew authoritative as she called back.

"We're going in folks!" The team collectively turned forward. Two of the girls in the back, Danielle and Francine clinging to each other. Jason stared out the window, pale as a ghost. Luna had edged forward in her seat, away from the back, and the final two, a boy named Shawn and a final girl named Tanya, gripped each others hands as they nodded frantically. "Hold on to something! Dasia, call out if you see anything falling towards us!" Under her breath so only Dasia herself could hear, Lynn wiped sweat from her brow as her body shook and whispered, "This is the dumbest shit I've ever done." She glowered towards her younger counterpart, "We ain't getting trapped here though."

Dasia gave a very shaky grin, "Not getting trapped is good." She looked down at the GPS, "Two miles."

The van rocked as it ran over rubble and debris, loose branches eaten away by the flame as it peppered the neglected road. Potholes bounced them as they moved past melted posts of former mile markers. Luna's voice cracked from the backseat, "It's Following Us! It's FOLLOWING US, LYNN!"

"What IS!?" Lynn almost looked back before Dasia snarled, "Quarter of a mile!"

Lynn steeled herself and hit the brakes to slow them as they approached the right turn. Luna's panicked voice heightened as the van began to make the turn. The front of it breached the new street.

A glowing force plowed into the right side of the vehicle. The airbags deployed as the turning wheels forced the van directly into a burning tree. The trunk cracked from the force, and the groan accompanied the roar that caused Lynn's ears to ring as the airbags deployed. The driver stunned as she laid against the deflated bag, her glasses cracked and blood dripped down from her chin after the collision caused a cut on her forehead.

She shuttered as she gained enough senses to look to her right, "D-Dasia?"

Her assistant laid slumped and unconscious. Lynn's neck ached as she looked over her shoulder towards the team, several of them unconscious. Jason was blinking rapidly and looking around. His breathing was in short puffs as he made eye contact with her.

That was when she noted something moving in the back window of the van. Her eyes widened as bright orange eyes met her own, and a clawed hand rose.

"WA-"

Luna screamed as the back of the van was ripped open and gaping, narrow, jowls with large sharp teeth came down on her. Red dripped from its flaming mouth, hissing upon contact with the heated beast; quills of flame spiked from its back as grotesque crunching raked through her ears, Luna's form going limp before it swallowed her whole. Lynn's mouth opened to scream, but she couldn't. Fear gripped her too tightly that she couldn't shriek to warn the others.

"A-ah…" It reached a clawed hand in, and she watched as Tanya stirred enough to open her eyes as it lashed like a snake into her. Tanya's shriek pulled Lynn to her senses as she watched the girl disappear into the fiery mouth of the beast.

"GET OUT!" Smoke choked her after she gasped, the team waking and immediately noting what was going on. A sound came from the monster that sounded like chuckling as frantic hands reached for heated belts. Crying in pain as the metal burned hands and they frantically searched for escape. The beast continued inward. The choking grasp of the smoke filled the van and the occupants struggled against it as the voracious beast inched forward.

 _We have to get out of here-_

Lynn felt her seatbelt give as she jammed as thumb down into the release and immediately reached for Dasia. The assistant's belt latch had began to melt and she snarled as her fingers were scorched into the plastic. She tried to grasp the petite woman out of the belt and stilled as the other side of Dasia's head came into view.

The right side of her temple was bleeding heavily. Her right eye was swollen shut; and a piece of glass was wedged into her neck, right into the jugular. A claw came into her view and she threw herself back into the door. It gave upon impact just as the petite woman's body was pulled out of the van. On her back in the hot coals, Lynn screamed with wide eyes and an ash covered face as the petite woman fell into the burning beast's awaiting maw.

The only sound now was the crackling of fire; her back screamed in pain as she focused above. The ringing in her ears too loud for her to hear the screaming from her mouth.

It had four legs, long and humanoid in the front, curved and canine in the back. Flames arched from its back as black, fueled by glowing coal quills. It's breast and stomach long and slender, black and cracked with orange flames on the inside. It's body moved over the van, both melting it and causing it to dent and bend from its weight as it hovered over. It had a long snout like a fox, and two deadly tails that swished behind it as orange eyes burned like emeralds. Each tooth in its mouth was silver, and dripped with small embers as its black lips pulled back in a wide grin.

 _None of This Makes Sense._

Lynn stopped feeling pain when its clawed paw slammed into her chest, pinning her to the ground; and her brain stopped working permanently, when its mouth descended down upon her head.

* * *

 _"Welcome to the Junior Emergency Response Crew." She gazed down from her spot on the stage at the seven individuals that looked up curiously. Her face a stern frown as she kept her hands behind her back._

 _Gulping down the nerves she felt making her nervous, she smirked at them, "For the next two years, we shall travel and live together as one unit, and one team. We will respond to emergencies across the United States and run support for the US Emergency Response Unit."_

 _She opened her hands towards them, "My name is Lynn Crawford. I am the leader for Flame 6. We will be the JERC North Region's Flame Team." A leader, her? Really? She could almost laugh, but as they kept their eyes on her and she them, she didn't have the heart to._

 _Leaders don't show when they're nervous, and they persevere in the face of adversity… even if it's their own. She'd be the best Leader for them she could be, "We will respond to wild fires within our region for the next two years, both in area evacuation, some control burnings, and hopefully utilize prediction models in the future. Over time, our responsibilities will grow as the USERU gives us more to do and we're deployed to different areas." She chuckled as expressions changed to excitement._

 _"We will be spending a lot of time together… so I look forward to getting to know each of you personally. I'll warn you, I run a tight ship; and I will not tolerate rules to be broken." They looked nervous._

 _She felt extremely confident as her chest puffed lightly in pride. She'd make them best fire team there was in the region.  
_

* * *

Lightening flashed across the sky and the rumble of thunder in the distance growled in her ears. Lynn came to with a groan, hand pressing down to the wet cobble stone underneath and hissing. The scent of rain and something metallic filled her nose.

Every inch of her body shook with pain as she pulled herself up to her knees and sat back on shins to look around. Red covered her palm, and after a moment of rubbing it between her fingers, she realized it was blood.

She looked up towards the dark stormy sky as her confusion mounted. A figure hovered over her, inhuman and black. Sharp teeth open as saliva dripped from its jowls and red eyes with dilated pupils waited with anticipation. She gazed down at the world around her.

Blood covered the walls of the brick alley she was in and the ground below her. Bodies of her team laid strewn out, dismembered and ripped apart. Small blue glowing balls hovered above them. Her clothes, the uniform once a fine white polo and black battle dress pants, ripped to shreds and stained red. Underneath each gaping hole in the clothe, a purple bruise laid on her skin. The memory of the fiery beast returned.

The feeling of panic welled up as her mouth opened in a slow cry of surprise and agony, masking the sound of footsteps as a stranger raced towards them. A snarl and a yell took place above her, and the terrifying figure fell; body literally unraveling to reveal a small red orb with what looked like scale growths along it.

Incoherent babble and stutters exited her as she crawled backwards from it. The blood and rain pooling around her hands, as her body shook like a leaf. The thud of someone landing drew her attention, and she tensed.

Her eyes met wide red eyes of a young man with white hair and a white band on his head. Instead of a left arm, a large curved blade obtruded from his shoulder which looked like it had melded into the metal. It glowed before the blade became a single shapeless light, and turned back into a normal arm, clothes and all.

Lynn's mind raced as she stared at him wide eyed, whimpers flowed from her as she cradled her head, "Th-this isn't happening…" He took a step towards her and she shrunk back, "Go Away!" She shrieked,. "D-don't- please don't hurt me!"

He stilled once her back hit the wall. Red eyes scaling the walls and grounds; noting the blood and bodies; before he looked up towards the shaking woman all together.

"I'm not going to do that… That would be just uncool." He stated simply, before he watched her look at him after her eyes had darted all over the place. She looked pretty bad, her face was bruised up, blood ran down from her head where she'd touched it and covered her arms and legs, he could see the bruised skin underneath the rags that were once clothes. He licked his lips with a frown before he caught and held her gaze for a moment longer. A breathless, "What...?" exiting her before her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fell limp against the wall.

Soul "Eater" Evans sighed and reached up as he ran a hand through his bangs as he stood over her. Knowing his answer would be unheard, he replied softly, "It'd be uncool," He looked her up and down and grimaced, "just like that."

* * *

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first installment. See you in chapter 1!


End file.
